Fat. Why is everyone so afraid of you? Why do people cringe when they hear your name? What have you done to deserve this unfavorable treatment? You're cut out of menus, you're eliminated from recipes, you're even banned from some diets. But why? Are you really to blame?
The reality is that you are not an enemy. In fact, you are vital for survival. You help prevent against heart disease, lower blood pressure, and protect us from the cold. Plus you taste amazing!
The problem is gluttony, or the overindulgence in your magnificent taste. Too much of you is indeed a bad thing. You are capable of raising our cholesterol levels to dangerous heights. So we left you, dear fat, eliminated you from our lives. Society saw you as dangerous and hazardous. Everyone avoided you. I recall a time when I was chatting with an elderly lady about my nutrition studies at the bus stop when she instantly broke into song, "Fat, fat, you don't want that!" Society was told to replace you with sugar, salt, and chemicals. It made our food taste awful. We did miss you fat. But we were on the rebound, desperate for some replacement.
It's just now that change has begun to appear. Jennifer McLagan's cookbook, Fat, is just one example of how we are now accepting you back in our lives. It will take time, poor fat, for you to truly be accepted once again. Even when looking at the cover of McLagan's book, I feel queasy. Yet when I taste your smoothness and pureness, I think I am in love once again. Sasha Chapman, in her article "Praise the Lard" writes, "Lard, along with other traditional fats, isn't as nearly bad as we thought." Fat, we are discovering the truth and we desperately need you. Fat, fat, we want you back!
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